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Red alert Lions issue warning by crushing Queensland
BRISBANE (Reuters) -- The British and Irish Lions continued their amazing start to their tour of Australia on Saturday with an impressive 42-8 win over Queensland. England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, playing his first game on tour, engineered two of his team's five tries and kicked four conversions and three penalties as the tourists easily accounted for their toughest opponents so far. The Lions had been hoping for stronger opposition after racking up 199 points in the first two games on tour but still proved far too strong for a Queensland team containing nine Wallabies. Dan Luger, Rob Henderson, Dafydd James and Richard Hill all scored tries as the Lions raced away to a 32-3 by halftime to put the result beyond doubt. Brian O'Driscoll scored just after the re-start as the Lions threatened to run away with the match but lost their way after that and Queensland scrumhalf Sam Cordingley crossed for a late consolation try. Some weaknesses Queensland, which reached the semifinals of this year's Super 12 but was without test stars John Eales, Chris Latham and Ben Tune, did expose some weaknesses in the Lions but never seriously threatened the tourists. It pinched a couple of lineouts, pushed the Lions scrum back and found some defensive holes but the Lions were still far too strong. The match got off to a fiery start as the teams began exchanging punches almost from the first kick-off and did not stop until referee Stuart Dickinson brought the opposing captains together and threatened to start sending players off. Queensland opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Lions skipper Martin Johnson was penalized for fighting. But the tourists hit back immediately with a try to England wing Luger. Welsh winger James broke down the right side of the field before he was tackled on the Queensland quarter. Flanker Neil Back quickly recycled the ball and flung it wide to Wilkinson who cleverly kicked across field to the unmarked Luger. Wilkinson missed the conversion but added a penalty five minutes later as the Lions began to flex their muscles. They scored a second try midway through the first half when number eight Martin Corry charged down an attempted clearance kick from Flatley. Queensland wing Junior Pelesasa raced back to clean up but spilt the ball as he tried to get up off the ground and Irish center Henderson scooped it up to stroll in for the easiest of tries. Another Wilkinson penalty followed shortly after before the Lions scored a third try from a kick when Irish hooker Keith Wood chipped over the defense and James outsprinted the cover to run over. They scored their fourth on the stroke of halftime when blindside flanker Hill charged onto an inside pass from Wilkinson to score from five meters out and give the Lions a 32-3 lead at the break. They stretched their lead to 42-3 when O'Driscoll burst through some weak defence to score under the posts and Wilkinson added another penalty but failed to score again. Queensland finished strongly and was rewarded just before the end when Cordingley charged down a kick by replacement scrumhalf Matt Dawson and won the race to the ball to score. The Lions play Australia A in Gosford on Tuesday with the first of three tests against the Wallabies in Brisbane on June 30. Lions: 15-Iain Balshaw; 14-Dafydd James, 13-Brian O'Driscoll (Jason Robinson 60), 12-Rob Henderson, 11-Dan Luger; 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Rob Howley (Matt Dawson 46); 8-Martin Corry, 7-Neil Back (Colin Charvis 71), 6-Richard Hill, 5-Danny Grewcock, 4-Martin Johnson (captain), (Scott Murray 77); 3-Phil Vickery, 2-Keith Wood, 1-Tom Smith. Queensland: 15-Michael Tabrett; 14-Junior Pelesasa, 13-Daniel Herbert (captain), 12-Steve Kefu (Jason Ramsamy 50), 11-David McCallum; 10-Elton Flatley (Andrew Scotney 40), 9-Sam Cordingley (Ben Wakeley 77); 8-Toutai Kefu, 7-David Croft, 6-Matt Cockbain (John Roe 75), 5-Mark Connors, 4-Nathan Sharpe (Mike Mitchell 65), 3-Glenn Panoho, 2-Michael Foley (Sean Hardman 61), 1-Nick Stiles (Simon Kerr 62).
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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